You may have heard that the "low fat diet” craze was a fad of the 1990s. The reason the low fat diet got such a bad rap was because most people following a diet low in fat took it to the extreme. They interpreted low fat as no fat, or at least as little fat as possible. Our bodies need some fat for a variety of essential functions. The problem is we get too much fat in our diets so the key is to limit your overall fat intake – especially the bad fats.

One of the best places to find tons of these foods that are loaded with bad fats is a typical fast food restaurant. Most menu items in a typical fast food (and even the majority of sit-down restaurants) are high in fat content. Now do you want to hear something really scary? Half, that is right—half—of this country’s entire food budget is spent eating out. Billions of dollars are being spent every year making this country’s obesity problem worse and the trend has not changed yet! A low fat diet simply does not include fast food and it is a key component of the Total Fitness Plan if you are going to achieve your weight loss goals and maintain them.

Not only is a low fat diet critical for your weight loss goals, it is necessary to keep your cholesterol levels low and your heart healthy. A low fat diet has been shown time and time again to help with cancer prevention, and generally speaking, a low fat diet improves a person’s health while helping them to manage their weight effectively.

Be careful when shopping for foods that are low in fat because some of them make up for it by being loaded full of processed sugar which positively wreaks havoc on your weight loss goals. Also, bad fats such as the saturated variety, do not need to be avoided like the plague but they do need to be kept to a minimum. In all, no more than 30% of your total calorie intake should come from fats—period!

For the fats that you do eat, try to keep the following in mind when you are devising your low fat diet: Most of the fat you eat should be essential fatty acids and not the bad fats such as saturated or trans fats.

Again, that low fat diet craze in the 90’s flopped because people went overboard. Fats are essential to our bodies but we have to keep them to a minimum and stay away from the bad fats. By maintaining a low fat diet you will significantly improve your chances of success in attaining your weight loss goals—and maintaining those losses well into the future!